Beer of the Bass

I'm still waiting for mine (not a gripe about Status - they've let me know what's going on, gave me the option to cancel and haven't charged my card yet), so last night I decided my tapewounds had become too dead and stuck on a set of Dunlop nickel roundwounds I had lying around for a gig. Doing a gig with roundwounds for the first time in more than a year was quite interesting. I still don't like the feel of rounds, and I like the sound for certain things and not others. With a pick I could be quite happy with the sound of rounds, but fingerstyle or palm-muted they don't quite do it for me. I'm still hoping the half-rounds are a reasonable halfway house...

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1385726277' post='2291531'] I don't know how anyone gigs without access to a car or van. [/quote] It's feasible, as long as you live in the town you gig in. Parking in my city is a nightmare anyway, especially if you need to be at the venue before 6.30. We do it by using house amps (when available), by depending on the venue PA or by using whatever compact setup we can transport. I do drive, but since I don't own a car I use the city car club or rentals when I need one. A well paying gig will justify that, especially if it's out of town, but otherwise I'll take the MB200/Wizzy setup along.

For non-car gigs, I use an EA Wizzy 10 cab with a GK MB200 head. These fit in a cajon bag which I can sling over my shoulder and it's fine for hopping on and off buses. I do sometimes walk to and from gigs with it, but it's still around 20lbs so not everyone may want to do that. The volume works for the sort of level my band plays at (this is with Jen and the Gents, link below), if the room isn't too large and I'm realistic about the amount of deep lows I can use.

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1385642256' post='2290536'] Thanks for that I may try these some time as I like more thump and not so much of a bright "twang" for want of a better word will have a good hard think about this as I am never happy with my strings I have tried lots of brands but none have really clicked with me I am using Picato strings at present and must admit I do like them I always used to use Ernie Ball strings but went off them as I did not think the price matched the quality. It is most likely in my head I am a nightmare always chopping and changing strings lol [/quote] You might want to go all the way to flats and see how you like those first. It's a bit like Goldilocks sampling porridge...

Has your bass got the bass-cutting series capacitor on the bridge pickup like the the 4001 does? If not, that might be worth a try for an alternate two-pickup sound with less scooped mids. I have one on a push-pull switch on my bass (even though it's not a Rick) and it removes a lot of the interaction between the two pickups in the mids and lows, leaving you with similar low-end to the neck pickup alone but a lot more high mids and treble. It would be a lot cheaper than trying new pickups, so I think it would be worth experimenting with.

[quote name='eddiehoffmann' timestamp='1385496400' post='2289026'] How did it go with the Status halfwounds? I so want you to tell me the strings were all good! [/quote] I'll let you know when they get here! I had an email on Monday, letting me know they were back in stock and I think they put them in the post yesterday.

I would say that the only important parameter for a tone control capacitor is the capacitance. The value affects the frequency above which the tone control starts sending signal to ground, with larger values starting at a lower frequency and thus sounding darker as the tone is turned down. This is worth experimenting with to find the value that does what you want. The voltage rating is unimportant here, as it is just a recommended maximum at which the capacitor can be used. Guitar signal is in the range of a few hundred millivolts, so any available voltage rating is fine. Capacitor composition can be a touchy subject on forums, leading to interminable multi-page "mojo" versus "science" threads. I have yet to hear anything to convince me that it makes a difference in a tone control, when comparing between capacitors of equal value.

I haven't used the B3, but I use a Zoom H4n recorder to practice guitar with headphones. Some of the bass amp simulations on the H4n sound good for guitar (particularly the Bassman and Superbass models) and I like them just as well as the "guitar" patches, so I'd guess that the amp simulations on the B3 would be as good or better than those.

That's an excellent result, and I'm impressed that the guys at Velvet did that when the strings were bought used. I had a similar breakage issue with Thomastik Dominants a few years ago, with two of them from one set breaking at the peghead, and Thomastik didn't even answer my email.

The neck looks on the narrow side for a five string. Has it been converted from a four? I'm sure I've seen that red and black binding before on a black finished bass, but I can't remember what it was...

Hypothetically, if I borrowed the steel mesh from the front of my speaker cabinet and used it to support food on top of my barbecue, would it be both a grille and a grill?

I'm not sure how close the single coil sized humbuckers get to the real thing - they'll certainly be thicker and louder though. If you do rout for a full size humbucker or P90 at the bridge, you could always use a new scratchplate and retain the original one so that it could be put back easily if he wants to go back to the classic strat setup later. No-one would see the extra routing under a pickguard anyway!

[quote name='eddiehoffmann' timestamp='1385126957' post='2284752'] Unfortunately I have to agree with you regarding the Status strings. I used to absolutely love their strings, specially the halfwounds, but the last couple of sets I bought seem a bit dead from the beginning. Even the roundwounds. Come one Status! Up your game!!! [/quote] Aww, don't tell me that while I'm waiting for mine to arrive!

I have some Status half rounds on order, but they're out of stock at the minute. When they do come back in, I'll see how I get on with those.

I think he's trying to divide opinions here. He's ditching the more produced sound he used to have and going for something more raw that sounds almost hastily flung together. You could argue that that makes it less bland and boring than some of his other singles. It doesn't do anything for me, but there will be listeners out there who get a kick out of that.

Are you going with some sort of magnetic pickup on this? A piezo might be sort of "interesting" sounding with the roundwounds.

How long do you give it?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1384900473' post='2282199'] Absolutely not! I would never let anyone wearing a tea cosy on their head join any band I was a member of. Man up or grow some hair. [/quote] I have a friend who wore an actual tea cosy as a hat for several years, complete with the word "teapot" stitched into it. This was usually accompanied by massive bell bottoms and lots of brightly coloured fake fur. If she'd been a musician, she would have looked great in a band, provided the band sounded something like Gong circa 1973!

The other danger is that the 1x15" is likely to handle less power (excursion limited) than the 6x10", but is also likely to be less efficient. So if you reach levels of power that could fart out and damage the 1x15", you may not notice as it will be drowned out by the louder 6x10". If you try it, put the 1x15" on top so you can hear it if it protests! Though with a 200 watt amp, you may be OK.

They would sell very well indeed, and if they used some of the better Korean factories they could be excellent instruments. It's not going to happen under the current ownership and management of the company, however. That's just not their business model.

I don't own one, and given my current financial situation I'm unlikely to in the next few years, but my first bass was one of the similarly styled Ibanezes mentioned in the other concurrent thread - it was a very close copy in many respects and I miss that bass! I may be one of the few people who actively likes the narrow string spacing and minimal taper to the neck, but I did find the bridge annoying as I like to palm mute. Mine had already had the bridge pickup surround replaced with a flat metal ring, but I suspect that would annoy me too. But with a pickup bezel and Hipshot bridge, I think I'd be very happy with one.

Mojo in the States have them, with no holes but the usual ears. Their minimum order and shipping charges make them a pain in the bum when ordering small items from the UK though. [url="http://www.mojotone.com/guitar-parts/pickup-covers-bass/Mojotone-Music-Man-Bass-Pickup-Cover-Black-NO-HOLES-5-String#.UodsYeIvY98"]http://www.mojotone.com/guitar-parts/pickup-covers-bass/Mojotone-Music-Man-Bass-Pickup-Cover-Black-NO-HOLES-5-String#.UodsYeIvY98[/url]

Rather than having to shape wooden ones, I made bumpers for my bass out of short lengths of very thick leather strap (the sort of thing used in saddlery) attached with contact adhesive. I realise this might mark the finish on the bass if they are ever removed, but the finish on my bass is a bit of a disaster anyway and I consider it more important to protect the wooden edges. I used a dark brown leather so they're not too obvious looking.